SendAs Relay

Guides › Copy Sent Mail to Gmail's Sent Folder (IMAP or Bcc)

Copy Sent Mail to Gmail's Sent Folder (IMAP or Bcc)

Updated 2026-10-03 · by Adam Hale

When you send from another address through anything other than Gmail, Gmail never sees the message, so it won't appear in Sent Mail unless something puts it there. There are two ways to copy sent mail to Gmail's Sent folder. IMAP APPEND with a Gmail app password files a real copy in Sent Mail. Bcc-to-self with a filter needs no Gmail credential, but the copy lands under a label instead.

Why your sent mail goes missing

With Gmail's own "Send as", Gmail sent the message and filed it in Sent Mail automatically. That feature ends for third-party addresses in January 2027 (Gmail Help 17101213). Whatever you use instead sends through another server, such as a desktop client, the Gmail app with a separate account, or a browser extension.

(guess, varies by provider) Most SMTP servers don't file a copy of what you submit. Mail clients usually save the copy themselves, into whichever account they're set up with. So your history ends up in the other provider's Sent folder, or nowhere.

Option 1: IMAP APPEND into Gmail's Sent Mail

What IMAP APPEND is

APPEND is a standard IMAP command that uploads a complete message into a chosen folder (RFC 9051). Desktop clients use it all the time to save sent mail to the server. Gmail exposes Sent Mail over IMAP as [Gmail]/Sent Mail in English, and marks it with the standard \Sent attribute (RFC 6154). A message appended there shows up in Gmail's Sent view on every device. (our estimate) It usually joins the original conversation too, since it carries the same subject and reply headers.

What you need

Steps

  1. Turn on 2-Step Verification for your Google Account.
  2. Open the App passwords page in your Google Account (linked from Account Help 185833), create one, and name it after the tool.
  3. Enter it, with your Gmail address as the username, in the tool that will save the copy. The server is imap.gmail.com, port 993.

Know what you're handing over

Google is blunt: "App passwords aren't recommended and are unnecessary in most cases." An app password gives whatever holds it IMAP access to your whole Gmail, not just the Sent folder. Google revokes all app passwords when you change your Google password, and you can remove any single one from the same page.

Option 2: Bcc yourself, then filter

This needs no Gmail credential at all.

  1. Add your Gmail address as Bcc on messages you send from the other address. Many tools can do this automatically.
  2. In Gmail, search for from:you@otheraddress.com, then click Create filter (Gmail Help 6579).
  3. Choose Skip the Inbox, Mark as read, and Apply the label "Sent/Other address".

If you also forward that address's incoming mail into Gmail, this filter catches only your own sent copies, because other people's mail doesn't come from your address.

Limits:

Side by side

IMAP APPEND Bcc-to-self plus filter
Gmail credential needed App password (2-Step Verification) None
Shows in Sent Mail Yes No, under your label
Work or school accounts Often unavailable Works
Extra recipient per message No Yes
Risk if the tool is compromised IMAP access to your Gmail None to Gmail

The connection to Google's warning

Google cautions that third-party "Send as" tools "often require access to your email credentials or OAuth tokens". A Gmail app password is exactly that kind of credential, and a powerful one. That's why Bcc-to-self is a perfectly good default. Use IMAP APPEND only with software whose handling of the password you trust.

How SendAs Relay fits

SendAs Relay offers both options, and neither is required:

The extension runs in Firefox 140+ and Edge 137+ on Gmail web (desktop). It doesn't fetch or receive mail, and it can't help with messages you send from your phone or a desktop client. For those, the Bcc-and-filter method above works without any extension. More detail: how it works, security and privacy.

Sources